Tagger Krisis

Industry Sherrif has a tagger prevention unit? that's laughable, and probably expensive. To think, we pay grown men and women a handsome salary w/ benefits to do be a hall monitor.
Did they bring in the SWAT team too?
I wonder if we have to be careful of the negative commentary we leave on this board, now that the vindictive and petty officers can figure out how to find an IP address.

No this is a great use of our tax dollars. Hunt down all the taggers stupid enough to leave a web trail and leave the poor hookers alone.

If they disband the "tagger prevention unit" and the "massage parlor patrol" they may be able to free up more units to sit at intersections catching drivers doing california rolls.

taggers 1st.

Yeah, the smart thing to do in a society with laws is to ignore the smaller infractions and focus on the big ones. Because it's not as if tagging crews haven't starting getting progressively more and more violent over the years.

I hate tagging with a passion because it's the most rudimentary display of a lack of respect for others. As if all of us really want to see your ugly graffiti that has zero aesthetic value. You can't put any effort toward writing your homework on a piece of paper, but you can spend all this time writing on walls. Because tagging pays off much better than an education.

Convicted taggers should 1) Be given a beating at the hands of someone who is really tough, not some little wannabe with a Sharpie and 2) be forced to finish their education so they can be a productive member of society instead of some fake gangbanger who finally moves onto the real thing when they realize they have no life skills whatsoever.

Hear hear. Tagging is terrorism, it is meant to intimidate.

Now that post made "Common Sense". Didn't work entirely for me but a good thought. I mean why force eduction on a tagger, just makes them smarter, let's keep them dumbed down.

Local Boy

Common nonsense,
Nobody here is arguing for ignoring minor infractures, only against majoring in minor infractions. That is to say, this seems to me to be a clear overstretch of supposedly tight resources that can be better addressed by preventitive measures (as opposed to prosecutorial measures).

But your right, clearly, taggers should take notice because we will spend millions and millions and millions of dollars to chase you and your $2 paint can down.

By the way, havent we now built a crime industry out of tagging. I mean, how many precious police jobs would be lost if the kids stopped taking up painting?

Common Sense,

One more thing: the fact that you find tagging the most rudimentary display of disrespect in our communities says a lot about where you're looking.

A strong case can be made that a more fundamental lack of respect for Latino communities helps foster the social conditions where tagging becomes a problem.

I'm glad you're not my Doctor as you seem preoccupied with symptoms and not the illness.

Oh please. Tagging is disrespectful and a deliberate act of malicious vandalism if you are so worried about the societal causes of the symptom let them come to your home and mark up the walls.

nail'em,
You're being silly. Or trying to be funny. Congrats, success on both counts.

How doees identifying the source of a problem commit a person to having that problem visited upon them? Demonstrate your logic, please.

"How doees identifying the source of a problem commit a person to having that problem visited upon them? Demonstrate your logic, please."-------------

No logic just unmitigated annoyance. How does coddling the perps solve the problem? Treating the cause and the manifestation are not mutually exclusive. Why you think tagging is innocent hijinks is beyond me, it is a serious issue and committed by folks who will get the worst end of it when put through the justice system.

The logic is if you don't deal with the small stuff when it is small I guarantee you'll be dealing with big stuff soon.

howey,

We agree that treating the cause and manifestation are not mutually exclusive. We disagree in 1) how serious we view the crime and 2) whether our resources are BETTER spent tackling serious (or, on your view, MORE SERIOUS) crime.

I think tagging is serious insofar as it devalues the business and real estate prospects of a community. The more invested you are in said values the more serious you will view the problem. This should come as no surprise; people are primarily motivated out of self interest.

While I might not be invested in the real estate or business prospects of a said community, I might be invested in the social or moral economy of a community. And when my focus is there, my answers to problems (like tagging) look a lot less like, "lock em up and give em the business end of the law" and more like, "why are these kids doing this? how can we get to them before they seek this type of validation?).

Nail em,
We agree that small problems can manifest themselves into more serious problems. We disagree about which problems we should try and solve. You look at solving symptoms (bceause they can get worse) and I look at cause of symptoms---see the difference?

Wait a second... a lot of taggers are middle class and not Latino.

huh,

huh? First, tagging is a localized phenomenon with crews mainly operating in a single neighborhood. Most tagging crews are comprised of members of the neighborhood. And in the SGV, as you surely know, most neighborhoods are mostly working class Latinos.

Second, by extension, I can envision a group of white or asian middle class suburban taggers emerging in those types of neighborhoods...and this has at least two potential explanations: 1) ol fashion white fascination with and mimicry of urban culture and 2) typical reaction of disaffected suburban youth.